Distribution and Abundance of Sea Cucumber in Phang-Nga Bay

Abstract

The study sites are located within two different ecosystems, the coral reef and seagrass bed within Phang-Nga Bay. For coral reef, there were 10 stations, which were divided into two zones, the reef flat and reef slope. For seagrass bed, there were also 10 stations, which were divided into two zones, the intertidal zone and the submerge zone. The distribution and abundance of sea cucumbers was recorded with 200 x6 m belt transects (of 1200 m² area) with 3 replicated. There were six species of sea cucumbers recorded during the survey, i.e. Cercodemas anceps, Holothuria scabra, Holothuria leucospilota, Holothuria atra, Synapta maculata and unidentified species is Synaptid sp.1 The abundance of sea cucumber was highly varied on species and habitat. The number of sea cucumbers recorded in the coral reef were higher than in the seagrass bed. The density of sea cucumbers was highest at the Leam Panwa reef, where H. leucospilota was the most abundant species with 0.5017+0.0525 individual/m².